Robins in the Red
by theGirlNightwing
Summary: This was for a school writing contest. Continuation of Batman: Battle of the Cowl, T 'cause of some violence.


**For all you YJ people, doesn't Tigress look like Lynx?**

**Sorry, I just couldn't update anything else, so I had to say that here.**

**I do not own Batman**

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Batman: Robins in the Red

**_Dick Grayson, Robin I, Nightwing, Batman II_**

_So, I'm Batman. I regret it. I will regret it every day of my life. We, the first three Robins, fought for the title. It's wrong, and Tim and I know it. Jason, well, probably doesn't. He's insane. And dead now, because of me._

_Darkseid murdered Bruce Wayne, the first Batman, in a fight for the Earth's freedom. We all heard the anti-life equation. Loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding x guilt x shame x failure x judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side. _

_Tim Drake, the third and, at the time, current Robin, and I argued about leaving Batman to rest. Gotham needs a Batman. He went against my orders to be Batman by going out in Bruce's Batman costume. Jason Todd, the second Robin and one of the many Red Hoods, _(_Red Hood is the name used by many different criminals including the Joker before he went insane), had been running around killing people wearing the _Bat Symbol; _the symbol against murder. Tim faced Jason, and Jason won. He thought he killed Tim. He told me he did._

_I found out the first Batman costume was missing, and found Tim's note: "Gone hunting. Tim." I was looking for Tim. Instead, I found Jason, who was trying to become Batman, after he thought he killed Tim. We fought. He lured me to a train. We fought on top of it. He slipped. He fell. He died. (Or so I thought.)_

_I found out Jason was wrong. Tim isn't dead. Thank God. _

_But I had to let Tim down. There can only be one Robin. And Tim isn't it._

_I had a choice of who would be Robin: Damian al Ghul Wayne or Timothy Drake-Wayne. Most would have chosen Tim. He had the experience. He knew what it was like to be the Boy Wonder. Damian is the grandson of Ra's al Ghul, one of Batman's archenemies, but he is also Bruce Wayne's son. But Tim is like my equal, so I couldn't have him as a sidekick. I chose Damian._

_Tim, the third Robin, was so upset he ran away. Jason, the second, is supposed to be dead, but knowing him, isn't, considering the fact that he's died before. He's probably prowling around as a Red Hood. Damian is the current Robin. I'm Batman. _

**_Gotham Theater. Present time._**

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Damian—no, Robin—dodged another barrage of bullets sent his way by Batman's arch nemesis — the Joker.

"Aw, Bird-Boy, you lost the talk in you! Of course, you're a different one, so I'm not surprised!"

"Talk? I didn't know Tim Drake could actually say a word, much less hold a conversation with _this_ idiot when he was dodging _bullets_," Robin muttered to Batman.

Batman suppressed a snort. "No distractions."

"Oh, but Batsy! _Why so SERIOUS?_" The madman gave an insane cackle and kept shooting.

Batman cursed and used his grapple line to swing up into the rafters of the theater they were fighting the Joker in. Robin followed suit.

"How do we beat him? Father never let me go near him, much less fight him. The only one who would have a better idea on how to beat him than you would be Jason Todd, the Robin who got beaten half to death and then blow up, then come back to life and manage to beat him in a fight. The Robin who's _dead._"

Batman flinched. "Distract him. He likes to talk. His main goal was to get Batman to laugh, without Joker Venom. We can't give him that."

Before Robin could jump down, something red slammed into the Joker, and the last thing the Dynamic Duo saw before something hit the lights and shattered them was a figure they thought they'd never see again, standing over a startled silent Joker.

Red Robin.

Red Robin, someone was wearing Jason Todd's last costume, the costume that was sitting in a glass case in the Batcave. Or so they thought.

"Ooh, another Bird-bo—whuh!" The Joker wheezed out air like he'd been hit. Which he probably had been.

Batman clicked a button in his shoe, and the lights switched on in time for the duo to see Red Robin's cape snap around a corner.

Robin ran after him, with Batman shouting from behind for him to stay as he tied the now unconscious Joker to a chair bolted to the floor.

Robin didn't listen. He peeled off after Red Robin. "Whoever you are, you shouldn't be doing this!" He snarled, dodging a disk with the Red Robin insignia the vigilante sent his way. Red Robin dodged through a doorway and into a room. Robin followed, to find the room dark. He cautiously walked in. The lights flashed on. He looked around the room, to see he had ran into another theater room. He turned to the box where they kept the controls on a hunch. Before he could look in, Red Robin jumped through the open window and landed in a crouch.

"Who are you?" Robin demanded, moving forward.

"Does it matter, Demon?" The imposter asked, standing up straight.

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Timothy Drake."

Tim Drake, his predecessor, smirked at him. "Hello again."

"What are _you_ doing here?" Robin asked with obvious loathing.

"Came to visit. Saw you and Dick failing to fight Joker. So I helped a bit."

"Right," Robin snorted. "You just _happened _to—"

He was interrupted by Batman walking in the room, looking really angry, having heard the conversation through Damian's forgotten comm. link. "Would you like to explain something, Tim? We're talking about this at the Batcave."

Batman turned around, making a little swishing noise with his cape, and walked out the door, which you rarely ever saw a Batman do, but there wasn't any other way to exit, unless he wanted to keep paying for damaged walls. Both Robins followed him out, as he shot a grapple line to hook onto the Batmobile that was hovering above them. "Come on, Robin. Red Robin . . . you know the way to the cave."

Robin shot a grapple line to hook onto the Batmobile also. He ignored Red Robin completely as he and his partner retracted the line, pulling themselves up to the flying vehicle.

Red Robin watched them go, then shot his own grapple line and swung off into the distance.

Someone stepped out of the shadows to watch him go. Someone who should've been dead. The Red Hood smirked from behind his helmet. "The Pretender will always steal my costumes, won't he."

**_Bruce and Dick's Batcave, fifteen minutes later._**

Red Robin ran his fingers over the new black and red Batmobile, an eyebrow raised as he assessed the differences. "So. You have a flying Batmobile? I would've _killed_ for one when I was Robin."

"Told you," Batman muttered to Robin. Robin grunted in response from where he was standing back, arms crossed, watching Red Robin suspiciously.

"Why are you here, Drake?"

"I just wanted to see how you two are doing as the new 'Dynamic Duo'." He straightened. "So. How are things in Gotham? Besides the Joker showing up and all."

"Fine," Robin growled bluntly, obviously on edge with Red Robin here. "While you've been off running around in your little dreamland of how Father is still alive, Grayson and I have been cleaning up Gotham better than anyone else _including_ you."

"Bruce _is_ alive," Red Robin shot back. "He was just shot years into the future. I researched Darkseid's Omega Sanction rays, they send you through time and space! They _do not kill!_"

"Red, I know that you want Bruce to be alive, but—" Batman tried to reason with him.

Which immediately turned on Red Robin's anger. "No, he is alive! He has to be! He's always managed to come back!"

Batman sighed, and tried to remind Red Robin of what happened, their proof that Bruce _was_ dead. "Timmy, Cla—Superman found Bruce's remains. He's _dead_."

"No. I _refuse _to believe you!" Red Robin yelled, storming upstairs and to his room. "They don't believe me, they never believe me. _Ever_. 'Tim's lost his mind, he thinks the dead can come back'. Bruce _isn't _dead," He growled once he reached his room, slamming the door shut.

The seventeen year-old world-class genius pulled his cowl back up. "Good-bye, manor. Hello, world," He muttered, jumping out the window. "Again."

**_Jason Todd's Batcave, Ten minutes later._**

Red Robin frowned at the cave. "It's dark, it's wet, and it's too evil smelling . . . but it'll have to work."

"_HUH, AND HERE I WAS, THINKING _I_ WOULD BE THE ONLY ONE WHO WOULD COME BACK _HERE," A voice boomed, making his face drain of color.

"N-no. Jason. You can't . . . You're supposed to be _dead_."

The aforementioned criminal jumped down from the ceiling, landing in front of the new Red Robin.

"I'm not trying to be Batman anymore. Figured Goldie would keep a strong grip on the mantle. I'm back to being the Red Hood."

"I can see," Red Robin muttered, backing away.

The Red Hood glared at him through the helmet. "Stop moving away from me. I'm not going to try to _kill _you or anything."

"The last time I saw you, you did try to kill me. And stabbed a batarang in my chest. Over my heart. I'm inclined to inch away from you after that." Tim told him with a roll of his eyes. "Besides, you're still a . . . you've been standing still for too long."

The Red Hood tilted his head, startled by the sudden change in the topic. "What?"

"You usually try to kill me or kidnap me or, you know, _something_, every five minutes we're within a half-mile radius of one another. You're . . . too calm." Red Robin took another step backwards, and then froze as there was a metallic clicking noise. His mind pieced together the facts, and he tried to run away too late. Bars sprung up on four sides, and a square piece of metal fell from the ceiling, making a cage. He cursed and glared at the Red Hood. "What do you want?"

The Red Hood grinned beneath the helmet. "You're bait for Golden Boy, of course."

Red Robin groaned and slumped back against one of the bars, thinking, _I should probably change my name, because Robins, no matter the color, _always_ end up as Bat bait._

**_Bruce and Dick's Batcave, five minutes later._**

"Suit up, Lil'D. One person hostage situation."

Damian raised an eyebrow at the look on Dick's face. "There's more to it."

Dick looked like he wanted to say something, then decided against it. "It's nothing."

Damian shrugged and jumped into the Batmobile. "I don't believe you."

Dick didn't answer; he just stepped in after Damian. Before he could start the car, he felt Damian's hand on his arm. He looked up to meet Robin's mask.

"Grayson, be honest with me. What's wrong?"

Dick hadn't ever heard Damian sound this concerned. He must look really bad. He sighed. "Jason . . . can't stay dead. And Tim can't stop snooping."

Damian groaned. "Todd is threatening you with Drake's life, correct?"

Dick grimaced.

Damian closed his eyes and sat back, annoyed, folding his arms. "Just . . . hurry up and get this over with."

**_Jason Todd's Batcave, ten minutes later._**

"Jason!" Batman called, completely alert for any sign of movement in the part of the cave full of curtains.

"Tt," Robin muttered. "Todd may be a psychopathic murderer and a jerk, but he isn't incompetent. He won't answer—"

Robin was interrupted by the Red Hood's voice coming from all over. "Hello, Goldie. Demon spawn."

Robin rolled his eyes at the nickname. "I take back my previous comment. You are an idiot."

There was silence until a cry of pain that wasn't Red Hood's came through the speaker.

Batman clenched his fists as the Red Hood said, "Just for _that_, Replacement got a new scar."

"Jason, don't do this." Batman tried to reason with him. "We can get you help, like last time."

"Yeah, help in Arkham. Thanks. You have five minutes to find Replacement. The clock is ticking."

Batman kneeled down by one of the curtains that was against the wall, and pulled hard. It came loose and revealed a gaping hole that lead into darkness.

He motioned for Robin to follow him. Soon they saw the Red Hood in a room full of switches, screens and other tech. Red Robin was unconscious, tied to a chair. "How did you know which one?" Robin muttered softly.

"His voice was coming through every curtain except for that one, besides, I've been here before," Batman murmured back, careful not to alert the Red Hood of their presence.

It didn't work. "I didn't expect you to find me so fast, _Batman_," Hood drawled, sarcasm evident on the name.

"Really, Jason? That sounded cliché, even for you."

The Hood gave a grin as he took his helmet off and tossed it at their feet. "I've never really been into that stuff, but I guess I could start speaking in slogans."

Robin groaned. "Don't you dare. I have heard enough of those at school."

Batman tackled Robin away from the Red Hood's helmet as it exploded, sending a plume of a red tinted gas into the air. "Knock out gas," the Bat muttered. "We can use that to our advantage."

"How, exactly?" Robin demanded as the Hood whipped out a pair of pistols and began firing. They both dodged.

"Back him up into it," Batman huffed. He yanked out two batarangs and flung them at the former Robin's guns. Both batarangs knocked them out of his hands.

The Red Hood cursed and ran at Batman with a knife, the jagged knife he had when he first was running around as the Red Hood. The Bat dodged and took out his escrima sticks. He ran back at the Hood, pushing him towards the knock out gas. They both ignored Robin, who was inching towards Red Robin.

The Red Hood tried stabbing at Batman's side with another knife, but he blocked it with one of his escrima sticks, the other one still pressing against the flat of the Hood's knife. They both fought hard to push the other's weapons in the opposite direction they wanted to go in. Finally, Batman pushed hard enough that his opponent fell backwards and into the knock out gas. His eyes widened under the domino mask over his eyes, and he rasped, "I'll . . . get you . . . back . . ." Before his body fell slack to the floor.

Batman slumped over, nearly falling before catching himself on the wall. "Is Tim ok?" He wheezed out to Robin.

Robin snorted. "He's fine. Todd probably just slapped him and caught him by surprise." Batman gave a sigh of relief, and Robin appeared next to him. "I called Pennyworth, he's coming over in one of the Bat devices. We have so many I can't keep track. I believe this one is a copy of the Batmobile."

Batman smiled. "That's . . . Alfred . . . for you," He muttered.

The copy of the Batmobile landed a few minutes later, and Dick felt himself being helped up by familiar hands.

"Rest, Master Richard. Master Damian and I have it from here."

"But . . . Jason and Tim—" He tried to get up.

"They're fine. We're bringing them with us. Don't worry, Grayson. You need to _sleep_," Robin told him.

Dick smiled hazily at his little brother in everything but blood, and closed his eyes. For once in their lives, all the Robins would be together without killing each other.

Hopefully.

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**Sorry if it seemed rushed at the end. This was for a limited paged (5) writing contest that I lost the second round in because people didn't want to read it. (everyone else's was half a page poems or two paged stories). I went to five, single spaced, ten double spaced. **

**Anyway, please review! I want to see what people who have read at least one batman comic think.**


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